Music & Arts

Old Crow Medicine Show is bringing a healthy dose of classic American roots music to the Blue Ridge Music Center on Aug. 27, along with rising stars Mipso and Amythyst Kiah.

With an old-time string sound fueled by punk rock energy, Old Crow Medicine Show has influenced acts like Mumford & Sons and contributed to a revival of banjo-picking string bands playing Appalachian and Americana music.

The City of Galax Public Art Committee has announced plans to install the city’s first mosaic mural at the Grayson Street Stage.
The mural at the stage, located in the parking on the 100 block of West Grayson Street, will highlight plaques already existing that commemorate the Downtown Revitalization Project.
The mural will depict local flora and fauna, framed within a fence-like setting, according to a recent news release from Chestnut Creek School of the Arts (CCSA).

Whether working or just enjoying the music, the Haynes family has attended HoustonFest since it started.

Today, the family gets to join their favorite bands and take the stage to perform at the music festival in Galax’s Felts Park. The event raises money for both the Galax Volunteer Fire Department and youth music scholarships, which makes the Haynes’ participation significant.

The Rex Theater will host the best of old-time and Irish music on Tuesday for a special concert and CD release.

Old-time musical traditions in the Blue Ridge Mountains have musical roots from many places in the world. Scots-Irish settlers to the area brought their music over a 150 years ago and influenced the sound of old-time music here today. This concert brings together two traditions of Irish and old-time music and two great bands: the Galax Bogtrotters and Irish musicians Randal Bays, Owen Bays and John Coyne.

Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) recently awarded sponsorships to 32 Virginia music festivals, including five in the Twin County area.

VTC awarded a total of $245,448 as part of its 2017 Music Festival Sponsorship Program.

The 32 awarded music festivals bring in nearly 483,000 in attendance and more than $11 million in ticket sales, with an estimated economic impact of $46.8 million to communities across the Commonwealth, the VTC reported.

Anyone looking for high-low culture (and a good dance number) this weekend in the Twin Counties need look no further than the Galax High School auditorium, where students will be recreating Civil Rights-era Baltimore in the hit musical “Hairspray,” based on the John Waters film of the same name.

HILLSVILLE – “Thunder in the Hills,” the popular play by Frank Levering, returns to the historic Carroll County Courthouse this month. The play, which originally debuted in 2012 for the centennial commemoration of the Carroll Courthouse Shooting, had multiple sellout performances then and again in 2014.

HILLSVILLE — The Carroll County Courthouse drama “Thunder in the Hills” returns to the historic courthouse during April.

This play, which was a sellout for multiple performances in 2012 and 2014, tells the story of the tragic shooting that occurred in the courtroom on March 14, 1912 and of the consequences of the shooting.

Local playwright Frank Levering wrote the play in 2012 for the centennial commemoration of the event.

Many of the cast members from the past play will reprise their roles for this year’s performances.